Sprint PCS data problems

Hello:

We recently purchased about 15 Sprint PCS Connection Cards (Novatel
Wireless Merlin C201). Everything is working fine, except for one
thing. We use a Java applet that runs in Internet Explorer, that
cannot connect to our server via Telnet TLS/SSL. It works fine on
dialup, direct connect, but will not work when using the Sprint PCS
connection card. When the Java applet attempts to connect to our
server with Telnet TLS/SSL, it doesn't appear to reach the server.
However, when connecting to our server with just Telnet (no
encryption), it will connect.

So far we are stumped by this one. We have called Sprint and they
claim they do not filter any type of encryption on specific ports.
However I found an old post on this group from 2002 that said that some
ports are filtered. Does anybody know if they do any sort of filtering
or if the card itself could be a problem???

We have tried the latest version of the Wireless Connection Manager
from Novatel, but it has not helped.

Thank you for all feedback or help on this issue!

--
Chris

---

› See More: Sprint PCS data problems

Get Windmp (tcpdump for Windows). It's free and will let you watch
the raw packet traffic. You can then see if there's ANY "handshake" at
all, and, if so,
at what point things get "hung" up.

(Can you get there via a Sprint PCS phone acting as a modem, i.e. via
a Sprint PCS "tethered" to the laptop?)

[email protected] wrote:

> So far we are stumped by this one. We have called Sprint and they
> claim they do not filter any type of encryption on specific ports.

That doesn't mean that they don't do port filtering at all. I know Verizon
blocks certain ports - I can't connect to a SQL Server directly from a Verizon
cellular connection (in that case, it's probably better that they have the port
closed off because a few well-known worms use that port for attacks).

> However I found an old post on this group from 2002 that said that some
> ports are filtered. Does anybody know if they do any sort of filtering
> or if the card itself could be a problem???

You need to ask Sprint, not if they filter, but which ports they filter. If
they're smart, there will be certain traffic they won't let through because it
will end up causing more harm than benefit. But "if" isn't likely to be the
question. It's much more likely to be "which."

--
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"In case anyone was wondering, that big glowing globe above the Victor
Valley is the sun." -Victorville _Daily Press_ on the unusually large
amount of rain the Southland has gotten this winter (January 12th, 2005)

Thank you for the response.

We have tried using different ports with no luck. At this point using
tcpdump may help, however we have been hoping to find out what exactly
Sprint is blocking and how to get around it.

We have also noticed something else peculiar. We also dial in with the
PCS card and connect to our Cisco VPN with the client software. Even
with this, we cannot connect to the Telnet TLS/SSL port but everything
else appears to be fine. So it seems the blocking is going on at the
client end, possibly at the local interface (PCS card) level?

We've tried calling Sprint tech support, but they have been completely
worthless. We get runaround answers and a lot of "I don't know" and
"we don't filter anything".

Very strange. If anybody can shed any light on this one, that would be
great!

Thanks much,
--
Chris

Steve Sobol wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > So far we are stumped by this one. We have called Sprint and they
> > claim they do not filter any type of encryption on specific ports.
>
> That doesn't mean that they don't do port filtering at all. I know
Verizon
> blocks certain ports - I can't connect to a SQL Server directly from
a Verizon
> cellular connection (in that case, it's probably better that they
have the port
> closed off because a few well-known worms use that port for attacks).
>
> > However I found an old post on this group from 2002 that said that
some
> > ports are filtered. Does anybody know if they do any sort of
filtering
> > or if the card itself could be a problem???
>
> You need to ask Sprint, not if they filter, but which ports they
filter. If
> they're smart, there will be certain traffic they won't let through
because it
> will end up causing more harm than benefit. But "if" isn't likely to
be the
> question. It's much more likely to be "which."
>
> --
> JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET
(4638)
> Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP:
0xE3AE35ED
>
> "In case anyone was wondering, that big glowing globe above the
Victor
> Valley is the sun." -Victorville _Daily Press_ on the unusually large
> amount of rain the Southland has gotten this winter (January 12th,
2005)

Hello:

Thanks very much for everybody's feedback. We have found the solution.
The problem was with the software used on the server end for the
application we are using, and the very high latency with the PCS card.

There was a problem with clients connecting over high latency
connections. We ended up doing an upgrade with this software and it is
now working. So in our case, the problem was NOT with any sort of port
or protocol blocking.

We also had a Verizon card that also had the same problem. From all of
this, we have found that tech support at Verizon was far superior
compared to Sprint. Sprint techs gave us a lot of runaround responses,
and never bothered to help us after several different calls. On the
other hand, the Verizon tech actually set up a laptop on his end and
walked through the exact problem with us, as well as passed the problem
to their high level techs.

Thanks again for all help!,
--
Chris


Spider wrote:
> On 8 Feb 2005 13:27:30 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
> >Thank you for the response.
> >
> >We have tried using different ports with no luck. At this point
using
> >tcpdump may help, however we have been hoping to find out what
exactly
> >Sprint is blocking and how to get around it.
> >
> >We have also noticed something else peculiar. We also dial in with
the
> >PCS card and connect to our Cisco VPN with the client software.
Even
> >with this, we cannot connect to the Telnet TLS/SSL port but
everything
> >else appears to be fine. So it seems the blocking is going on at
the
> >client end, possibly at the local interface (PCS card) level?
> >
> >We've tried calling Sprint tech support, but they have been
completely
> >worthless. We get runaround answers and a lot of "I don't know" and
> >"we don't filter anything".
> >
> >Very strange. If anybody can shed any light on this one, that would
be
> >great!
> >
> >Thanks much,
>
> Since you mentioned Cisco VPN, it now becomes extremely important to
> know which ports you're trying to use. You may want to avoid any of
> the so-called well known ports, if that's what you were using.
>
> Did tech support open a trouble ticket for you? Have you ruled out a
> config issue at the server, since you said you can connect as long as
> you don't use SSL?